Wheel



SePf- 22, 1936- R. lJ. BURRWS ET AL 2,054,803

WHEEL Filed sept. 22, 1952 2 sheetssheet 1 Sept. 22, 1936- R. J. BURRoWs ET AL WHEEL Filed Sept. 22, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 ww? 2 f y llllllllllllll s ,s @,r YU@ na Z r @www Patented Sept. 22, 1936 UNITED STATES Y WHEEL Robert J. Burrows and Alfred O.l Williams, Battle Y Creek, Mich., assignorsto Clark Tructractor Company, Battle Creek, Mich., a. corporation of Michigan v I Application September 22, 1932, Serial No.,634,304

- v 5 claims. (c1. 295-11) The ypresent invention relates generally to wheels and is particularly concerned with wheels of the type wherein the rim is separated from the central wheel body by cushioning material f of anyv flexible or resilient nature by which road shocks are absorbedv and are not transmitted to the wheell axle or the vehicle supported thereby. One of the materials usually employed in this connection is rubber, and many attempts have been made to insert rubber between the outer part lof a wheel and the hub or spider to secure a-'resilient..action for the purpose of absorbing shocks. Generally, such wheels have employed rubber under compression, but such wheels have not proven satisfactory and one of the disadvantages is that when rubber is used incompression the only section of the resilient material which is actually useful in absorbing road shocks at any one instant is the section at or adjacent the portion of the wheel which is for an yinstant in contact with the groundfor other supporting Y surface. It isv now believed that the most efiicient manner of employing rubber to accomplish resiliency,`together vwith long life, is to have the rubber work in shear.

Proceeding according to this theory, the present invention provides a cushioned wheel wherein rubber is employed as the cushioning material and is so disposed as to support all radial loads limposed on the wheel by the strength of the rubb'er in shear. "Briefly, this has been accomplished by "the Vprovision of one or more rubber discs or rings bonded, as by vulcanizing, between theside faces of the wheel body and the rim bmember, the latter parts being provided with suitable surfaces disposed parallel with respect to the general plane of the wheel and to which the rubber is securely vulcanized or otherwise bonded thereto.

i Another object of the present invention is to provide a cushioned wheel wherein the cushioning material is disposed adjacent the periphery of the Wheel andis uniformly loaded or stressed throughout;l the entire rcircumferential extent thereof whenever any radial load is imposed upon the wheel. This result, as is obvious, cannot be accomplished by any method of using resilient material, such as rubber, under compression. However, when rthe ,cushioning material is 50'- stressed in shear only, each section of the cushioning material issubjected to exactly the same loading, and this circumferential uniformity is complete entirely around the wheel.

A furtherobject of the present invention is to arrange thefcushioning material so that, not only is the cushioning material uniformly loaded throughout its length to secure effective cushioning in'the plane of Vthe wheeljbut also the cushioning material is so arranged as to provide'for absorbing shocks imposed upon the wheel later-- ally as well as radially. For example, where the wheel constructed according tothe principles Tof the present invention is a krail car. wheel, the cushioning material works in shear to absorbthe shocks due to defective rail joints andthe equivalent and, in addition,jthe.rubber or other cushioning materialis enabled by virtue ofr being subjected to compression, to take care of laterall thrusts, such as those due to impact between the wheel'ilange and the rail.

Another feature of importance exhibited by the Y present invention -is one relating to safety, an essential the necessity of which is generally recognized. VvWhere lthe cushioning material is Aemployed in shearxin a railroad car wheel or the like and can be secured by bonding in any known manner to'laterally spacedv flanges of the equivalent,A the rim portion proper ofthe wheel can be brought quite closelyto the radially outer or peripheral portions of the Wheel body, the only necessity present being that sufficient space must be provided to take care of the relativemovement between the wheel body and the rim portion.l `In actual practice this required spacing is relatively Vsmall so that even should the rubber or other cushioning material entirely fail, the wheel'v body would merely ride inside vthe rim withoutdropping any appreciable distance or without tending to` derail the car.

`Another object of the present` invention, while relating to wheels of the type outlinedv above, is more particularly concerned with thei formation thereof especiallyth e manner in which the cushioning material is bonded, as by vulcanizing or the like,lto the rim and to the wheel body. Preferably, the cushioning material takes the form of rubber rings or discs which are flat and which have their lateralfaces securely bonded or vulcanized tothe rim flanges and the adjacent surfaces of `the wheel body. Where vulcanizing Yis employed, both pressure and heat are necessary, and it is also necessary to confine the radiallyV inner and outere'dges'of the rubber rings to conne the latter when pressure is applied to the rim and wheel body. During this step in the manufacture of the wheels, useis made of the space between the peripheral edge of the wheel body and the radially outwardly spaced portion of the rim to provide for vthe'insertion of a cylindrical extension-or-portion of the associatedV die, such vulcanization process to the cushioning material.V These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred structural embodiment,

taken in conjunction with the accompanying` drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through the axis of a wheel constructed according to the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the wheel shown in Figure 1, certain parts being broken away to better illustrate the construction; Y

Figure 3 illustrates the position and arrange-V ment of the vulcanizing dies employed in vulcanizing the rubber cushioning rings in the wheel shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 illustrates a modified form of Wheel employing a construction in which the rim of the wheel may not be in place during the vulcanizing operation; and

Figure 5 illustrates the position and arrangement of the vulcanizing dies which may be employed in making the wheel shown in Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawings, the reference numeral I indicates a central wheel body in the form of a dished disc or spider terminating at its periphery in a pair of `axially spaced planar circumferential portions 3 and 4 annularly arranged to receive flat bands of rings of rubber or other The surface 4 isr connected with the flanged portion 6 of the wheel' body I by reenforcing ribs 8 and a peripheral web 9. The central portion of the wheel body I is provided with an opening Ill and a plurality of circumscribing holes I I to receive and be secured to any conventional form of axle and hub means.

The rim or tire of the wheel is indicated by the reference numeral I5, and in the illustrated construction it will be seen that the rim shown is of the form used for rail cars and the like having the usual beveled tread surface I6 and a rail flange I1. 'Ihe rim I5 also carries a radially inwardly extending flange ring 2U which, in Figure 1, is formed integrally with the rim I5. The flange ring 20 lies in a plane parallel with respect to the general plane of the wheel and is spaced a short distance'from the planar surface 3 formed on the laterally outer side of the wheel body I. A relatively flat band or ring of elastic resilient ma` terial, such as rubber or the like, is interposed between the planar surface 3 and the inner planar surface of the flange ring 20 and securely bonded theretoas by vulcanizing or the like, as will be later explained in detail. The cushioning material is indicated in Figure l by the referenceY ringY member 26 and to the rim I5 opposite the ange ring 20 by relatively long transverse rivets 29. As will be apparent from Figure 1, the assembly ring 21 extends radially outwardly of the wheel body a greater distance than does the ring member 26 in order to provide for attaching the assembly ring to the rim I5.

It will be noted that the rim I5 encircles or embraces the peripheral edge 9 of the wheel body l but is spaced therefrom a small distance, pro- A4Viding an annular circumferential air space 35 between the rim and the edge of the wheel body.

This space is important in that relative movement in a radial directionbetween the wheel body I and the rim I5 is provided for, the elasticity and resiliency of the cushioning strips 22 and 25 permitting such relative movement.

It will also be observed that the cushioning material 22 and 25 is disposed in planes parallel with respect to the general plane of the wheel and that this material is bonded to the wheel body and to the flange rings or to the rim along annular junction areas which also lie in planes parallel with respect to the general plane of the wheel. By virtue of this construction all radial loads are supported by the rubber inserts acting in shear only. It will also be observed, particularly from Figure 2, that the loading of the cushioning strips in shear is uniform and is continuous entirely around the wheel. That is to say, should the wheel be called upon to support such weight as would cause the wheel body to shift vertically an amount equal to, say, of an'inch, every section of the resilient material throughout the circumference of the wheel will be subjected to a shear corresponding to a shift of le of an inch of one surface relative to the vopposite surface. This uniform and extensive distribution of the shear loading is considered an important feature of the present invention, particularly when contrasted with prior constructions in which the cushioning material is employed in compression, in which case the relatively small amount of material at the bottom of the wheel where the latter contacts With the ground was required to support the entire load imposed upon the wheel, leaving by far the greater portion of the mass of cushioning material unused at any one instant. In the present invention, instead of being con fined to a relatively small section of the cushioning material, the loads thereon are distributed entirely around the entire extent ofthe cushioning strips. It is also desired'toV point out that cushioning material such as rubber and the like has a longer life and greater resiliency where it is stressed in shear only.

The flange members or rings 20 and 26, carried by or otherwise Securely attached to the wheel rim are disposed on the laterally outer sides of the wheel with respect to the general plane thereof while the tread section I6 of the rim encircles the peripheral edge 9 of the wheel body. Thus, the entire periphery of the wheel body is embraced by the rim, being spaced therefrom both axially and radially to provide for the relative movement Vtherebetween occurring during the cushioning action of the rubber bands or strips.V

The latter, as is obvious, serve to Space the rim axially of the wheel body and to secure the sameV in position while the annular air space 35 provides for relative movement between the wheel body and the rim in a radial direction. By virtue of this construction, therefore, even if the cushioning rubber rings 22-25 fail, no disastrous results would follow because the wheel body would merely drop down and the peripheral edge 9 the wheel and bonded on each lof the outer faces of said planar surfaces, a rim member embracing the wheel body and spaced radially a short distance from the peripheral portion of said 'Wheel axial separation of body, a flange carried by said rim member andY disposed outside one of said rubber bands and bonded to the outer face of the latter, a ring dis'- posed adjacent the other rubber band and bonded to the outer face of the latter, and an assembly ring adapted to be secured to said ring and said rim member to prevent axial separation of the rim and wheel body.

3.A wheel comprising a central wheel body having a peripheral portion providing a pair of laterally spaced planar portions lying in planes generally parallel to the plane of the Wheel body, acontinuous annular band of rubber having a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the wheel and disposed on each of the' outer faces of said planar surfaces, a rim member embracing the wheel body and spaced radially a short distance from the peripheral portion of said Wheel body, a flange' carried by said rim member and disposed outside one of said rubber bands, a ring member disposed adjacent the other rubber band against the outer face of the latter, and an assembly ring adapted to be secured to said ring member and said rim member to prevent axial separation of the rim and wheel body.

4. Arwheel comprising a central wheel body having a peripheral portion provided withapair of axially spaced flange portions having planar surfaces facing laterally with respect to the general plane of the wheel body, a rim member carrying planar sections projecting radially inwardly from the lateral edges thereof and embracing the periphery of said'wheel body and spaced laterally with respect to said planar surfaces, and resilient cushioning rings secured between said surfaces and said planar members.

5. A'resilient wheel comprising a wheel body With a radially directed circumferential channel, a rim member having a radially inwardly directed planar ange at one lateral edge, a planar disk member adapted to be secured to the opposite lateral edge of the rim member, and resilient members compressed between the external lateral surfaces of said channel and the inner lateral surfacesof said flange and disk member.

ROBERT J. BURROWS. ALFRED O. WILLIAMS. 

